China observes thriftiest moon festival amid anti-graft push

China is expected to embrace a frugal Mid-Autumn Festival compared with the past observances marked by lavish spending and gift giving, thanks to the intensified scrutiny of holiday spending under China's austerity push.

The festival falls on Monday this year.

Traditionally an occasion for family reunions, the festival in recent years has taken on more sinister connotations, as people present delicately packed mooncakes, the traditional delicacy for the festival, to officials or business partners to build personal connections.

Ahead of this year's Mid-Autumn Festival though, things have unfolded differently.

Sales for high-end mooncakes have plunged as a result of a government ban of mooncake purchases with public funds announced in August 2013.

Traffic jams partly caused by vehicles sent to carry gifts in the weeks running up to the festival also eased in Chinese cities.

A 30-year-old staff member surnamed Zhang at a government institution in Beijing said she used to receive four or five boxes of mooncakes from others ahead of the festival, though her position is not especially high. This year there have been no such gifts.

"In fact, I feel more at ease not receiving any mooncakes," she said.

The gift giving tradition has caused a headache for both recipients and givers in recent years. A 2011 commentary posted on news portal voc.com.cn compared the observance of festivals to "going through an ordeal." It said festivals had become a prime time for graft, citing confessions by corrupt officials. "Under the guise of festival observance, illegal activities and disciplinary violations, such as bribe-taking … took place," said the article, noting that festival observance had become a burden for some people.

Wang Chuantao, a commentator, said in an opinion piece in the Zhongshan Daily last week that gifts have become rigid demands during festivals, and the practice of gift giving to officials has eroded the public's faith in government and officials alike.

Since August, Party and government departments at all levels circulated notices seeking to correct irregular spending during the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays, including the purchase of mooncakes, e-coupons and dining with public funds.

Xu Yaotong, a professor with the Scientific Research Department of the Chinese Academy of Governance, told the Global Times that some government employees are still "in a tough spot" having lost benefits they have enjoyed for years. In order to nurture an environment that fosters clean governance, "authorities must repeatedly curb the trivial irregularities, which are especially prone to reoccur during festivals," he said.

The website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the Communist Party of China (CPC) has opened a section on its homepage for the public to report on the use of public funds for mooncakes. Some Net users have left messages reporting irregularities they found.

The public's response to the central leadership's efforts has been generally positive. More than 200 comments were left on the CCDI's website commending its efforts to clean up festival observance.

Zhang Wenxuan, a professor with Lanzhou University, told Gansu TV on Wednesday that implementation of the push for frugality during the festival is condusive to rebuilding the good trations of the nation. "Festivals should be observed with our rich cultural roots, and shouldn't be distorted [by the irregularities]," he said, adding that the central authority's requirement regarding the upcoming holidays is a good beginning.

On Sunday, the CCDI exposed the latest cases relating to breaches of anti-bureaucracy and formalism guidelines from August 25-31. It was the fourth such weekly exposé by the CCDI, detailing the name of offenders and their punishment.

The 170 cases cited included the use of public funds for high-end entertainment activities and tourism, private use of official cars, lavish spending at weddings and funerals, and illegal acceptance of festival gifts.

Since his coming into power, President Xi Jinping has repeatedly vowed to target corrupt officials at all levels of the government and Party.

Ni Xing, a professor with the Center for Anti-Corruption Studies of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, told the Global Times that the two fronts in the campaign are equally important.

"While the downfall of corrupt officials at the top level is critical to cementing the CPC's rule … targeting irregularities at the grass-roots level is felt more directly by the public, and is a shorter route to polishing the Party's image," Ni said.

Xu described the irregularities involving the lavish spending of public funds during festivals as "undercurrents" hindering the country on its path to clean governance. "Though they seem to be trivial problems compared with severe corruption, they will eventually rot the system if left unchecked."